This week began with nude pictures of Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, and ended with Ted Cruz calling Trump a rat and just barely avoiding the word "ratfucking." Let's review.

Getty Images

It all started with an anti-Trump Facebook ad targeted at Mormons from the super PAC America Awesome, which featured a photo of Melania Trump posing naked for GQ.

Getty Images

Taking offense to the perceived slight, Trump threatened to "spill the beans" on Cruz's wife Heidi. "Be careful, Lyin' Ted," he warned on Twitter.
"Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless," responded Cruz.

Getty Images

On Wednesday, a story accusing Cruz of having affairs with five women appeared in The National Enquirer. Cruz denied the story, calling it "complete and utter lies" and "a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen."

Getty Images

While accusing Trump of planting the story, Cruz tried to talk around the word "ratfucking," derogatory slang for an especially dirty kind of political sabotage.
“He’s a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent,” Cruz said of a former Trump ally. “Well let me be clear, Mr. Trump may be a rat but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics.”

Getty Images

On Friday, Trump issued a statement on Facebook, denying the accusation that he planted the Enquirer story.
"While [The National Enquirer was] right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz," he wrote.